Re: Wife-beater

: Do people from the UK use the word "singlet" when refering to
the tank top style men's undershirt? Or is that too archaic?

: My Japanese girlfriend throws all these ancient english words
at me. I didn't know what she was talking about. Singlet? I looked
it up on the internet. Oh...a "wife-beater"? Wakarimashita.

: My question is, how long has the slang word for a men's undershirt
"wife-beater" been around? I'm guessing it's definitely a "post-modern"
thing, whatever that means.

'Singlet' is a standard UK term for the sort of 'vest' you describe
- that's another UK speciality, and we don't use the term 'undershirt'.
As far as 'wife beater' is concerned, I've never heard of it.